Yantai is located in the middle of Shandong Peninsula, east longitude119 34' ~12157', north latitude 36 16' ~ 38 23'. Yantai is surrounded by mountains and seas, with pleasant climate, no severe cold in winter and no heat in summer. It is adjacent to Weihai in the east, Weifang in the west, Qingdao in the southwest, Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea in the north, and faces Liaodong Peninsula and Dalian across the sea, forming a maritime gateway to the capital Beijing. The maximum horizontal distance is 2 14km and the maximum vertical distance is 130km. The land area of the whole city is 13745.95 square kilometers, of which the urban area is 2643.60 square kilometers. The city's coastline is 702.5 kilometers long and the island is 206.62 kilometers long.

Yantai is one of the first coastal open cities in China, an international port city, shopping center and tourist city in the Bohai Economic Circle and East Asia. Yantai has jurisdiction over Zhifu, Fushan, Mu Ping and Laishan, a state-level economic and technological development zone and Changdao County, and seven county-level cities including Longkou, Laiyang, Laizhou, Penglai, Zhaoyuan, Qixia and Haiyang.